Go Either Way
by PYZILLA
Summary: A small group of Dwarfs develop a everlasting friendship that will endure many grueling challenges, as well as many exciting adventures.
1. Prologue

Go Either Way

Prologue - Dwemer History

This is the story of Brokk the Brave and his many adventures of his, exciting, incredible life. Brokk was a dwemer, known as a Dwarf to you Imperial Folk.

The Dwemer were a race of architectural geniuses, and their ruins can still be found all throughout the vast expanses of Tamriel. The Dwemer created mass underground cites, usually in the sides of mountains. They appear to have been a highly technologically advanced, and their mastery of steam power, and tapping into natural resources allowed them to create airships, sentient machines, mechanical observatories, and lighting systems that continue to work for centuries without maintenance.

The Dwemer were, in a way, comforted by their ability to empower lifeless fabrics into active beings, denying the organic power of the gods. This culture is often seen as very arrogant by the other people of Tamriel. They allowed their technological capabilities to accelerate well ahead of any other race. Their previous settlements are inhabited by _Animunculi_(which are their incredibly engineered enchanted guardians) better known as "Centurions." They still roam the halls of the dwarven ruins as if their masters still looked over them, which makes some believe that they had dabbled extensively and somewhat successfully in some of the more divine arts and attempted to use the supernatural powers to their advantage.

Contrary to many legends, evidence of known Dwemer ruins leads one to believe that the Dwarves were about the same size as the typical human or elf, evidenced by the fact that all existing Dwarven armor is average sized. This is likely to be because many of the Dwemer resided near the Giants of the Velothi Mountains, who had never encountered any races of Men before and saw them as being much smaller, and thus deemed them to be "Dwarves."

The Falmer, were the Dwemer's slaves. They had been cast down many generations ago for attempting to conquer the Nords(which indefinitely failed.) The Dwarfs had since then tormented them into making them only reliable upon the Dwemer, therefore making them into their personal slaves. They would feed the Falmer poisonous substances that would impair their vision, eventually making them totally blind, and would continue this horrendous act until all generations of the Falmer were totally blind.

About 1E 700, the Dwemer mysteriously vanished during the _Battle of Red Mountain. _However, not much was known of the Dwemer, since they were a very secretive race, and never ventured out of their ruins. It is now known what occurred and caused this mass genocide of the Dwarven race. The Dwemer were not a religious people, so to speak, nor did they believe in fancy folklore or extravagant tales, however, the Dwarfs had began construction on a massive machine god, that they would all praise and would be known all across Tamriel. However, this "god" would be the end of them, for when finishing the final piece of their god, the same machines that guarded them from any creature dumb enough to venture into the mountain, turned on them and exterminated the Dwarfs. This downfall of the Dwemer caused the raising of the Falmer, whom can still be found roaming the depths of Tamriel.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1 – The "_Roots_" of their adventure

The Dwarven race isn't as conspicuous as one might think. The Dwarfs have been stereotyped as a fat, stubby being, but ironically, the Dwarfs are about the same as you and I now. The Dwarfs were not fearsome and dangerous like some folk like to think. The very popular long beard among the Dwarfs still remains true, and so does their fondness of Heavy Armor, or, in some cases, a robe. They were very skilled workers of metal and expert builders, which leads that Dwarven artifacts are very valuable throughout Tamriel.

Brokk the Brave was around 20-25 years of age at the start of his adventure (though guessing the age of a Dwarf was especially difficult, due to the fact that they develop an abundance of facial hair in their early teens.) Brokk had a brother, the same age as him, known as Eitri. Brokk and Eitri had no remaining parents, due to his mother dying at childbirth, and his father exploring the depths of Blackreach and being slaughtered by a group of enraged Falmer.

Brokk was a rather tall Dwarf, around 6 foot or so, and his brother Eitri was a tad shorter, at about 5 foot 9. Brokk was fairly slim, and had somewhat of a muscular build in his upper body and arms. Brokk had very short hair (for a Dwarf that is), but his long beard stretched to about mid-Torso. Brokk was very artistic growing up, and was often awe inspired by the magnificence of the Dwarven ruins in its prime. Brokk was also very intelligent, but would never fully apply himself. However, he was fond of Heavy Armor, and wished to master the art, and later become a Blacksmith. Eitri was heavily influenced by the arcane arts. He suspected that something that had to do with the _Animunculi,_ involved magic. Eitri had a full head of extremely long hair (stretching down to his waist line) and also a rather large, tangled, beard. Eitri had a few facial scars, due to his many altercations with getting into trouble. Both Brokk's and Eitri's personalities were very charming. The only difference was Brokk was always a bit shy, and Eitri was more of a troublemaker.

The brothers had a group of friends, whom they had known since a young age, and were very close too. Anaq, Gidal, Gidel, and Gog were all close friends of Brokk and Eitri, and often referred to their group as the "_Ellipse._"In their teenage years Brokk and Eitri discovered a mysterious plant while exploring the depths of Blackreach (Which at that time was still very safe, and populous) The plant was known as Nirnroot, and, discovered by these "adventurous" brothers, that if you set fire to this plant and inhaled the smoke and fumes; they would receive a psychoactive calming effect. The brothers used this plant avidly to relieve the thought of their always concerning situations. The members of the _Ellipse, _after a hard day, would all retreat to their gathering place, a small stone room in the back of Gog's home, where they would smoke some _"Root"_ and unwind after a long day, and have a few laughs.

The room was somewhat hidden in the back of Gog's home. The door had a rather large lock, and was secluded from the rest of the home. As you entered the room you see a rather small circular space that resembled much of a large closet, and it was a wonder that so many bodies would fit in this tiny room, but the amount of space was always sufficient. On the floor would be miscellaneous activities, scattered cards, and much along those lines. However, there was no place to sit so they often gathered in a circle, thus giving them the name as the "_Ellipse_"

Anaq was the same age as Brokk and Eitri. Anaq was very fond of wearing robes, and growing his hair out. He was always looked at strange, because he lacked a full beard, of those of his brethren. He had a small amount of facial hair on his chin, and other than that, he was always a clean shave. Anaq had somewhat of a mysterious personality, always concerned, and paranoid, that _"The Mountain would COLLAPSE!"_ or that _"These CRAZY machines will be the end of us!"_ However, the fellow members of the _Ellipse_ loved him, in fact anyone that knew him, loved him. Anaq was also somewhat smaller than that of the typical "Dwarf." But the thing Anaq had in common with the other members of the _Ellipse _was that he was very fond of smoking Nirnroot, which they called it simply, "_Root."_

Gidal and Gidel were identical twins. They had the same exact dark red-ish long hair style, and also a midsized braided beard. They were identical in height and weight, and was very difficult to tell them apart. The only way was to hear their voice and/or know their personality. Gidal had a higher voice; his personality was rather obnoxious at times. Gidal would sometimes take something too far, and get someone upset, but he would later come to his senses, and everything would be good again. However, Gidel had a lower, more mellow voice, and often had a very relaxed tone. He would usually remain very quiet, and relaxed, but at times Gidel, Brokk, and Anaq would have very long, deep, conversations.

Gog could be thought as the leader of the group, but there was no set group leader (so to speak). Gog had a very small build, smaller than Anaq's in fact, but Gog was still possibly the toughest of all of them, and most willing to stand up for what's right. Gog has very curly hair, and a thin beard. He was rather dark skinned, (which was uncommon among the dwarfs) Sometimes the group would address him as _"Hey Redguard!"_ (Or simply "_Red!" for short)_. He didn't mind having this nickname, even though Gidal would sometimes abuse and overuse it.Since the groups gathering spot was at Gog's house, it was somewhat his responsibility to provide the snacks, and sometimes tell fascinating stories about what some dwarfs refer to as the "Outer World."

Since none of them had ever ventured outside the depths of their respective mountain (few dwarfs did) they had no idea what the world outside of their so called "safety bubble" would be like. They had always dreamed of leaving the mountain and starting a new life, a fresh start, since none of them really had a good story to tell about their life in the mountain.

The everlasting friendship of the _Ellipse _has survived many things since they were all children. Their friendship will be put to the test as the _Ellipse _will face many adventures, and endure many fascinating, as well as horridness, memories soon to come.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 – The Beginning of the End

As the long grueling workday ended Brokk was on his journey to Gog's house for their daily get together. Brokk felt very suspicious and paranoid; He felt as if someone or something was watching him. As Brokk was returning from home from his shift, he walked past a large pipe protruding from the wall. He saw what appeared to be steam flowing out of the pipe, as he walked by the pipe, he fainted. As he woke up, he realized that it must have been a leaking gas pipe. He had no idea how long he had been out; it only appeared to be a few seconds to him.

Normally on the way to Gog's place, Brokk walks with Anaq, but today Anaq didn't show up. This didn't bother Brokk, he knew he would find him somehow. As Brokk was making his way to Gog's, he couldn't help but notice how strange and quiet their Dwarven keep appeared. "Did I get off work early or something today?" thought Brokk as he walked down the barren hallways. Brokk eventually found a group of Dwarves huddled up against the wall, but they appeared very suspicious. "What are you doing out here kid? Do you know how late it is?" said a mysteriously looking Dwarf. Brokk said nothing to him, but thought "What's this guy talking about, I just got off work five minutes ago." Brokk was very confused, at this point, he starting running, and didn't stop until he reached Gog's house. As he approached the house, which even appeared suspiciously strange at this point, He noticed a small amount of light and a head shaped shadow creeping through the window. He knew immediately that it was Eitri. Before he knew it, Eitri ran out of the house and forcefully grabbed him and pushed him into the house and quickly shut the door behind him. "What the hell are you doing?" said Brokk forcefully. "Shhh, don't be so loud." said Eitri hastily, "Do you have idea what time it is? Where the hell have you been?" "What are you talking about? I just got off of work." said Brokk. "Bullshit, it's almost 2'oclock, at night. Have you heard about all the crazy things going on out there?" said Eitri as he nervously paced back and forth in the kitchen, carefully looking out the window. "What are you talking about?" said Brokk looking somewhat frightened. "How could you not know? What happened to you?" said Eitri.

Two days prior to these strange mishaps, The _Ellipse _gathered at Gog's house for their nightly gathering. As Brokk entered their hidden room he overheard Anaq talking about how he had began seeing strange occurrences. "Those machine are crazy _dude!"_ said Anaq furiously. Brokk did have to agree, the machines appeared to be acting very strange; moving in strange patterns throughout the halls. "Hey man I got some special _Root_ today." said Brokk entering the room. "Where'd you get that?" said Gidal crazily. "Snuck off and went down to Blackreach and picked it myself today." said Brokk with a rather large grin on his face. "Oh man, that's just crazy. . ." said Gidel. Brokk had always wanted to try some Crimson Nirnroot, which had a red glow to it, rather than to the green glow that the standard Nirnroot had. "Wait till you see this!" as Brokk pulled out a pack that must had over 20 pounds of Crimson Nirnroot in it. "Oh...My…Gosh" said Anaq with his face lit up with amazement as he stared at Brokk. "Fire it up!" said Rune. Rune was the younger brother of Gog. Rune was always the first one to want to smoke the _Root_ and referred to him as a "_Cliff Racer_!" (which was the bat like creature in the Dunmar province, that scavenged anything it could find to eat)

As the night progressed, they gathered in the small room in Gog's house. They lit up the _Red Root_ and got a extreme psychotic effect. Brokk began hallucinating from smoking too much _Root. _He began seeing what appeared to be numbers and messages encrypted on everything and everyone. Anaq found himself appearing to see ghost like figures and was quite frightened. Gidal and Gidel were surprisingly quiet after smoking the _root_, however, Gidal kept praising Brokk for finding the _Red Root_. Rune kept consuming the _Red Root_, making everyone in the _Ellipse_ angry at him. As they sat in the smoke filled room, they kept hearing very strange sounds from outside. They figured it was just because they had smoked too much _Root_, so, although very frightened, they fell asleep.

When they were all awake the next day, they ventured outside the house to see if they could find any evidence of the noises they were hearing the previous night. Everything appeared to be fine, except the _Centurions._


End file.
